Nouns: Definite or indefinite form?

Have you figured out how the definite and indefinite forms of nouns work in Swedish? At least sort of figured out? Definite form, that's when we talk about some specific thing. And indefinite form, that's when we talk about just any... 'thing', without pointing out one in particular. Right?

Mmm. But not quite. Listen to these examples: Min katt är svart. Detta armband har jag gjort själv. Sandras kille är så jobbig.

Din näsa är solbränd. Nästa buss är försenad. Those aren't just any cat, bracelet, boyfriend, nose, or bus? Quite the opposite, these are specific items pointed out. Still, those nouns are in indefinite form.

There's something fishy with the words that come first in each of these examples. Some of them describe ownership: ... either through the genitive case, ... or by being a possessive pronoun. Then there are a few more cases: ...

when one of these precedes the noun: Samma Nästa Denna Detta Dessa ... then the noun will appear in indefinite form, even if the stuff we talk about is very specific, and not just any item. So: when a noun is preceded by a word that expresses ownership, or one of the words in this list, then it's not modified to its definite form, even though it is very much defined and specifically pointed out. Are you following so far? We'll just make it even a bit more complicated.

Because, definite and indefinite form isn't just affecting the nouns, but also the adjectives that describe those nouns. And that can go in one of three ways. The simplest case is when the noun and the words that describe it are all in indefinite form, throughout the phrase, like this: En grå katt. Ett hemmagjort armband. En jobbig kille.

En solbränd näsa. En försenad buss. The nouns are in indefinite form. The adjectives are in indefinite form. Nice and simple.

Or, the entire phrase is stated in definite form, including both the noun and the adjective, like this: Den svarta katten. Det hemmagjorda armbandet. Den jobbiga killen. Den solbrända näsan. Den försenade bussen.

So far it's all sticking to the rules, right? But here's the third and slightly complicated case: When one of those exceptions we talked about before shows up, then we get the noun in indefinite form, BUT the adjective in definite form. This is what that sounds like: Min svarta katt Samma hemmagjorda armband Sandras jobbiga kille. Din solbrända näsa Nästa försenade buss Here, the nouns are in indefinite form, while the adjectives are in definite form. And that's because each of these phrases either begins with ownership, or with one of the words: Samma Nästa Denna Detta Dessa There you go!

Definite and indefinite form was a bit trickier than it first seemed, wasn't it? But this was all. If you grasp this table, then you understand definite and indefinite form.